How Much Do Chiropractors Make?
The figure most sites quote for chiropractors, $79,200 a year, counts employees only. BLS does not survey the self-employed, and the 36% of chiropractors who work for themselves are not in that number.
This page sets employee pay beside what one-person practices take in and what a trade survey reports for associates and owners. Enter a ZIP code for local pay, or work out a practice's gross in the calculator.
Which figure applies depends on whether you take a salary as an associate or run the practice.
In ZIP code 98101 (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue), employed chiropractors have a median of $105,290 a year; the national median is $79,200
Enter a ZIP code to see the median for employed chiropractors in your area. Every US ZIP code is matched to an area. BLS publishes a local figure for 235 of 528 areas, so many ZIP codes show the state median instead.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1011 by area; Census ZIP-to-county file; USDA rural-urban codes. 235 of 528 areas report a median, and the other 293 use the state figure. BLS counts employees only. No agency publishes self-employed pay by area, so the calculator applies the local employee pay level to the fee per visit. Your ZIP code stays in your browser.
New Jersey pays employed chiropractors the most at $134,990; Utah the least at $53,900
The first column is a wage for employees from BLS, and it leaves out the self-employed. The second is what one-person practices took in before any costs, from Census, so the two columns count different people. Some state medians rest on few chiropractors: BLS counts 1,370 employed in New Jersey, 1,360 in New York, 1,130 in Washington, 250 in Maine and 90 in Alaska.
| State | Employed chiropractors, median a year (BLS May 2025) | One-person practice, average gross (Census 2024) |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $79,200 | $73,883 |
| Highest five | ||
| New Jersey | $134,990 | $102,229 |
| New York | $120,950 | $89,861 |
| Maine | $107,300 | $70,093 |
| Washington | $104,070 | $62,517 |
| Alaska | $103,500 | $82,791 |
| Lowest five | ||
| Utah | $53,900 | $70,154 |
| Kansas | $57,600 | $62,774 |
| Georgia | $61,660 | $74,762 |
| Wyoming | $62,640 | $54,868 |
| Missouri | $65,090 | $56,942 |
| Most people employed in this job | ||
| Florida | $84,280 | $69,766 |
| Texas | $87,520 | $74,670 |
| California | $75,470 | $76,729 |
| Illinois | $66,650 | $68,556 |
| Pennsylvania | $67,230 | $66,268 |
| Ohio | $77,710 | $77,577 |
BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1011, state medians for employees only. Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 62131, average gross receipts per one-person business, before expenses and tax, with part-time practices included.
The biggest pay decision: take an associate's salary or run your own practice
Census's $73,883 is the average gross of every one-person chiropractic filer in the country. The $269,303 from Chiropractic Economics is what solo practices among 107 of the magazine's readers said they collected, and those practices report two employees on average. Readers of a trade magazine and every one-person filer are different populations, so neither figure corrects the other.
A share of collections is not a share of billings. Practices in the Chiropractic Economics survey collected 62% of what they billed, so an associate paid on collections is paid on the smaller number.
Work out what a practice takes in before tax
The fee, visits, days and weeks are examples; change each one to match your own. The result is money in before tax and before the costs of running a practice, so it is not take-home pay.
- Visits in a year$259,200
- Your share$259,200
Example figures from the sources named, checked in November 2026. Rent, malpractice insurance, staff and equipment are not deducted. With a ZIP code, the fee follows that area's pay level.
Chiropractors in one trade survey collected 62% of what they billed
No agency publishes insurer rates or typical fees for chiropractors. The figures here come from one trade survey of 107 readers, so they describe those readers and not the whole profession.
Chiropractic Economics, 28th Annual Salary and Expense Survey (2025). The respondents chose to answer and reported their own figures, so this is not a random sample.
On our arithmetic that is 72% for solo practices in the same survey. Group practices billed $1,393,228 and collected $841,684.
These are the survey's own percentages, from its solo and group respondents. We have no official figure to check them against.
The IRS list of occupations that customarily and regularly receive tips has no chiropractor entry, and massage therapists are a separate entry.
What 107 self-selected chiropractors told a trade survey in 2025, and what one owner said on video
The first three cards are self-reported averages from readers of a trade magazine who chose to answer. The survey does not split owners from associates, and 3% of respondents said they work as associates. We looked for chiropractors who published their own income since 2023 and did not find one outside the coaching business, so the last card is one owner from November 2022.
Salary averaged $106,586. Total compensation has fallen from $182,916 in 2022. The survey does not define what the difference between salary and total compensation covers.
Collected $269,303 on 91 patients a week with two employees. Salary averaged $89,007.
Collected $841,684 on 242 patients a week. Salary averaged $136,300.
He puts the practice's monthly figure at $43,000 to $45,000. He says he has a partner and they split the overhead, and he puts his half at about $9,000 a month. He has owned the practice for 26 years. This is a single self-report from 2022.
The lowest-paid tenth of employed chiropractors earn under $43,460 a year
No agency publishes chiropractor pay by years of experience. The figures below are the nearest we have, and none of them tracks how long somebody has been in practice.
BLS May 2025, SOC 29-1011, employees only. The self-employed are not surveyed, and these percentiles cover employees at every stage of a career.
Chiropractic Economics, 2025, self-reported by the magazine's readers. It is an average from a small sample and is not typical of the whole profession.
BLS says all states require chiropractors to be licensed, although requirements vary by state. It counted about 61,700 jobs in 2025, 57% of them in offices of chiropractors, and projects 9% growth from 2025 to 2035.
Measured by us in November 2026, from Google's US suggestions. Each count is the number of distinct phrasings of a question, not a count of searches. Chiropractic school was measured at 125 phrasings and left off the chart.
Chiropractor pay questions
If you run your own practice, take bookings and payments online without phone tag.
The free plan takes your first 100 bookings without a credit card. It is a permanent plan, not a trial.
- A booking page patients can use from your website or a link
- Each service with its own length and price: a first visit, an adjustment, a follow-up
- A deposit at booking, or a card on file charged with the patient's permission, into your own Stripe account
- Tap to Pay on iPhone, to take a card in the office with no reader
Sources
Official figures come from BLS and Census, trade figures from one named survey, the recommended associate split from a 2018 article, and one owner's figures from a 2022 interview.
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Chiropractors (29-1011), national, state, metro and nonmetro areas, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed. 235 of 528 areas report a median for 29-1011.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Chiropractors, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-08-27 About 61,700 jobs in 2025, counting all workers; 36% self-employed. Education, licensing and projected growth.
- Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 62131, national and state, U.S. Census Bureau Gross receipts of businesses with no paid employees, before costs and tax. An average, not a median. Includes part-time practices.
- The 28th Annual Salary and Expense Survey (2025), Chiropractic Economics, 2025-06-04 107 respondents, anonymous web questionnaire to the magazine's readers. Self-selected and self-reported averages, not a random sample.
- Art of the Associateship: Success Is in the Finances, June 2018, Dynamic Chiropractic A recommended contract, not a measurement of what associates are paid.
- Dr. Dennis Balch interview, November 2022, Boris Clemente on YouTube A single owner's self-report. He does not say whether his monthly figure is billings or collections.
- Occupations that customarily and regularly received tips on or before Dec. 31, 2024, Internal Revenue Service The list has no chiropractor entry.
Not tax, legal or financial advice. Pay and what you keep vary by state and city, and licensing rules differ by state. A tax professional who knows your situation can answer for you.